Saskatoon schools facing millions in funding shortfalls

This will be a tough fiscal year for Saskatoon’s public and Catholic school divisions in the choppy wake of the provincial budget.

The March 22 budget allocated $2.02 billion for the education sector, a decrease of about 6.7 per cent compared to last year’s budget of $2.2 billion.

Public board chair Ray Morrison said considering the expected enrolment growth of 685 students, provincial funding per student fell by $460 — to $9,691 from $10,151 — leaving a shortfall of about $11.4 million. “It’s very, very significant,” he said. “As a board, we have always done everything we can to protect the classroom … it’s still early days into this budget but this, I think, is a deeper cut for us than I’ve seen in all my years on the board.”

The division will also open four new schools, adding to its operating costs. Morrison said it’s too early to know if students will suffer as a result of the budget, noting his board will examine all scenarios to address the shortfall in the coming months.

Operations and preventative maintenance and renewal (PMR) funding for the public and Catholic divisions dropped compared to the current fiscal year. Catholic schools will get 0.7-per-cent — $1.15 million — less funding. Saskatoon public schools will get a 1.8-per-cent — $4.3-million — funding decrease.

Both divisions noted these figures don’t account for expected growth for the coming year, so reductions in funding for operations may be higher.

The Catholic division also faces a shortfall of about $9.7 million for the upcoming school year. With about 550 new students expected and the opening of six new schools, per-student funding will drop by about $392 — from approximately $10,039 to $9,647.

Catholic board chair Diane Boyko said finding ways to address the shortfall will be “a challenge.”

“We can’t continue with the current level of services that we’ve had with those kinds of dollars, so there will be impact in various services and supports that we can offer our students and our families,” she said, adding it “remains to be seen” how the division will deal with the reduction, but “everything is on the table.”

Education Minister Don Morgan said the province will work with divisions as they search for savings, noting funding to both divisions has increased by more than 40 per cent since 2007-08.

The ministry has told divisions it expects them to reduce governance costs — which includes the money paid to trustees for things like travel and professional development — by 35 per cent.

Morgan said his ministry will work with divisions to find savings in the form of common busing, group purchasing and group IT purchases. While this won’t be a solution to all issues, “there’s certainly some significant savings to be had,” he said.